Exhibition - Maria Theresia and Her Contemporaries in Croatia

Maria Theresia (Vienna, May 13th, 1717 – November 29th, 1780) was the only woman who ruled the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1740 she gained her right to the throne through the Pragmatic Sanction and defended it in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War. After ruling for forty influential years, one of the longest in the Monarchy, she is today regarded as one of the most popular and prominent Austrian monarchs. She is especially remembered for her reforms which she implemented and enforced in order to strengthen the administrative and military efficiency of her provinces, including Banal Croatia and the Military Frontier.

Commemorating the 300th anniversary of her birth, the Museum presents from its holdings in the grand hall portraits of Maria Theresia, her parents, her husband Francis I Stephen and her son and heir Joseph II, together with selected portraits of her Croatian contemporaries. Some of them were active in the wars in which Maria Theresia defended her right to the throne or participated in the implementation of her reforms. Along with the portraits, the display includes examples of the two medals of two orders she founded – the Military Order of Maria Theresia and the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen. Some of the bearers of the medal given by the queen for special merits, as well as two medals of orders can be seen on the displayed portraits. The monarch had awarded nobility to Croats mostly for their military merits and a royal grant of a coat of arms from 1763 is also exhibited on this occasion.